Best Friends Till The End
by Ramenism
Summary: A story of Team Seven, and how Sakura and Naruto deal with Sasuke's selfish choices.


Best Friends till the End

They had been through a lot, the three of them.

Much more than anyone would have guessed when Iruka had paired them together.

Haruno Sakura; smart, but was too busy trying to impress Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasuke; strong, but his hatred clouded his vision

Uzumaki Naruto; different, but too dense to see that he could change people.

But Sasuke's hate was strong.

And he left for Orochimaru.

Sakura cried.

Naruto cried.

Jiraiya mourned because he could see the historic repeat.

Tsunade mourned because she knew exactly how Sakura felt.

Kakashi mourned because he could do nothing.

But Naruto would change.

As would Sakura.

XXX

Sakura ran as fast as she could after Naruto.

This was what they had been waiting for.

Sasuke had finally made his way towards Itachi, and Naruto and Sakura were determined to beat him to the older Uchiha.

XXX

Naruto, exhausted from his training, lay on the forest floor, examining the dummy he thrashed into to pieces, hoping that Sasuke would never be in that position.

Sakura sat back leaning on her hands, exhausted from bringing the fish back to life, hoping that Sasuke would never be in that position.

XXX

"I can feel two people approaching your brother, Sasuke-kun" Karin said.

Sasuke said nothing.

XXX

A four year old Naruto glanced at the raven haired boy he had just met and smiled.

"We'll be best friends till the end, you and I."

XXX

Sakura concentrated hard.

"I can feel four people heading towards him, Naruto."

Naruto growled.

XXX

As the young Naruto said that, a small girl appeared before them, crying.

"C-can I be best friends with you too?"

Sasuke and Naruto looked at her questionably.

"Well, nobody wants to be my friend because I have a big…a big…forehead."

Naruto laughed and said, "Of course you can be our best friend!"

Sasuke nodded shyly.

XXX

Two boys with completely different goals run toward the same target…

XXX

Sadly as the three four year olds would grow, they would forget about their promise with each other.

XXX

After they met with Sasuke after almost three years, Naruto curled into a ball cried.

He could hear Sakura sobbing from somewhere to his left

He wondered if she felt as ashamed as he did.

How could he be feeling such anger and sadness as that stupid Sasuke just stood there indifferent.

Naruto cried harder.

Nothing had changed since that day at the waterfall.

He was still weak.

Nothing had changed.

He could feel Kyuubi stirring as he felt Naruto's despair.

Nothing.

Yamato and Sai could only stand as the two teenagers wept for their teammate.

XXX

As Sakura stood in front of Itachi, she heard Naruto say, "Don't worry Sakura-chan, a lot has changed since last time."

Sakura's hands shook.

"Indeed."

XXX

Naruto was no stranger to that demonic urge to kill.

That day Gaara had died was the strongest he had felt it.

And he had wanted it,too.

And that scared him.

But Kakashi was there to keep him in check.

But there was this fear in the bottom of Naruto's heart.

He knew Sakura couldn't control him.

He was pretty damn sure Sasuke couldn't.

He…didn't think any of his friends could.

What if…what if one day he lost control and he…

And he…

XXX

Kisame stepped up to fight Naruto and Sakura.

Sakura cursed mentally.

The needed to get Itachi before Sasuke showed up.

XXX

Sakura had finally gotten over her stupid little crush.

Now, at fifteen years old, she felt like a fool.

She wasn't strong enough back then to even think about boys.

But she did.

And now she felt like a fool. A fool of guilt.

She had no idea what Naruto was going through.

The people who used to hate him…

The Akatsuki…

Kyuubi…

XXX

Too late.

Before Sakura and Naruto even blinked, Sasuke was on Itachi.

And before they could even blink, they found themselves fighting.

Sasuke vs. Itachi

Naruto vs. Juugo

Suigetsu vs. Kisame

Karin vs. Sakura.

A three way war.

Team Hebi vs. Akatsuki vs. Team Kakashi

XXX

Two nights ago, while they were resting in a campsite, Sakura and Naruto began to talk.

"What if we brought Sasuke back and he hated us?"

Naruto didn't know what to say.

Sakura continued,

"What if we killed Itachi and Sasuke hated us?"

Naruto didn't know what to say.

Silence.

"What if Akatsuki actually got you and they succeeded with their plan?"

Naruto did have an answer for this.

"…if they ever kill me…and extract Kyuubi…they would never succeed."

"Why?"

"I don't mean to sound like Neji, but there are things that happen because of destiny and things that go against nature."

Sakura nodded.

"Putting a demon in a cage is against nature. And I'm sure that if Kyuubi found himself in there, he would get out."

Sakura didn't understand, but Naruto kept going.

"Sakura-chan, do you really think mere humans could contain nine of the most powerful creatures for long?"

Sakura nodded, finally understanding.

Kyuubi growled and spiked his Chakra in agreement.

XXX

Naruto looked to his left to see Itachi standing over Sasuke, holding Sasuke's sword above his younger brother's chest.

Smirking.

Naruto's eyes widened.

"No!"

XXX

Sakura had once dreamt that Sasuke had never left.

But then the dream left her an unsatisfactory feeling.

Maybe if Sasuke hadn't left, maybe she would still be that person she had grown to hate.

XXX

Sasuke closed his eyes, preparing for the strike.

But it never came.

He heard Sakura scream.

He opened his eyes slightly to see Naruto hovering above him, his sword through his old teammate's heart.

His eyes widen as he felt Naruto's tears fall onto his face.

"Best friends till the end, you and I..."

XXX

Naruto had once dreamt that Sasuke had never left.

But then the dream left him and unsatisfactory feeling.

Maybe if Sasuke hadn't left, maybe he would still be that person he had grown to hate.

XXX

Sakura screamed and made an attempt to run to them.

"No, I don't think so, your opponent is me!"

Karin didn't expect to get thrown a couple ten feet after she said that.

XXX

Sasuke had once dreamt that he never left.

But then the dream left him an unsatisfactory feeling.

Maybe, if he hadn't left, he would still be that person he had grown to hate.

XXX

Sakura pushed Sasuke out of the way and rolled Naruto over.

Sakura pulled out the sword and began hastily trying to heal his heart.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, the tears on his face, and then at Sakura, with the tears rapidly tearing down her face.

His eyes widened.

Sasuke could feel the warm liquid running down his own face.

And he began to shake.

He took his sword and charged toward Itachi.

His Sharingan had finally reached the level he had been dreaming of.

XXX

As Naruto walked pass Sasuke, he remembered that Sasuke's family had died.

Just like his (or so he assumed).

As Naruto stared at the boy's black hair, he suddenly remembered his promise.

XXX

Itachi smirked as Sasuke struggled to walk over to Sakura and Naruto.

Sasuke had only managed to get his sword into Itachi's stomach, but Itachi was impressed.

It had been a while since he had been wounded like that.

He signaled to Kisame that it was time to leave.

Kisame grinned at Suigetsu,

"See you later, squirt."

XXX

Sakura never remembered.

Neither did Sasuke.

XXX

Sakura sighed, Naruto would live.

She gasped as she saw Sasuke collapse on Naruto.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes.

"I'm sorry Naruto."

"Teme….just shut up."

"…till the end."

Sakura's eyes widened.

"Yes…till the end. Isn't that right Sakura-chan?"

"T-till the end."

X The End X

The Queen of Ramenism

Ramen

Ya! How did that go?

I really hate Sasuke.

He's really hot and strong, but jeeze, I think he has the IQ of a house plant.

Plus…I think his brother is way cooler….but I do like how Sasuke's hair sticks up…

Anyway, Sasuke better get his act together in the manga, or Ramenism is going to deal out some "Oops, I tripped and killed Sasuke" Fanfics.

:D

Hope you liked it!


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